By means of example only, wireless communication devices have traditionally used electronic serial numbers (ESN) and/or mobile identification numbers (MIN) to identify the communication device to the towers receiving and relaying the communications. As wireless communication device usage (including mobile telephones, wireless data devices, wireless email devices, and any other device using a wireless network) increases, the number of unique ESN and/or MIN numbers that have never been issued diminishes. Eventually, there will be no more available numbers to be issued.
With mobile communication equipment companies running out of traditional ESN numbers and having to adopt new standards, many problems develop within their existing infrastructure and support systems. One such problem is how to utilize the new identification numbers within old computer and management systems. The problem arises for any company involved in the wireless communication industry when these new numbers are used in old software and/or management systems to have wireless communication devices operating on the wireless network.
For example, an old system may require only decimal numbers, but only a hexadecimal ESN number is available. Or, the system may need to convert several types of numbers, and different software may be required for each type of conversion. This creates a major problem for employees trying to activate wireless communication devices on the network because of the complicated nature of converting numbers such as the mobile equipment identifier (MEID) between its various forms.
The following references and other references mentioned in this application contain background information and are hereby incorporated by reference as if included herein in their entirety for the purpose of US patent practice and other jurisdictions where permitted as if set out fully herein: TIA website: http://www.tiaoline.org; 3 GPP2 website: http://www.3gpp2.org; http://cn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_formula; TIA—MEID Standards Update, version 1.7, published by the TIA, dated August 2004; TIA—MEID Overview, version 1.3, published by the TIA, dated January 2005; TS 122 016, version 5.0.0, published by ETSI, dated June 2002; TS 23.003, version 3.10.0, published by 3GPP, dated June 2002; S.R0048-A, version 1.2.0, published by 3GPP2, dated April 2004; X.P0008-0 v2.0, version 2.0, published by 3GPP2, dated May 2005; TIA-928, published by TIA, dated August 2004; TIA-928-1 Addendum Summary, new annex for TIA-928, undated; ESNGuidelinsV18a, version 1.8a, published by TIA, dated September 2003; SC.R4002.0, version 2.0, published by 3GPP2, dated October 2004; N.S0005-01, version 1.0, published by 3GPP2, undated.
There remains in the field a need for a system, method, computer readable medium, and computer program for processing wireless communication device identification numbers such as MEID numbers in any standard representation (such as decimal or hexadecimal) and converting the wireless communication device identification number to all commonly used forms and representations. This capability would ensure older systems and wireless networks are compatible with the latest standards in wireless communication device identification numbers. Additionally, the system would desirably also simultaneously validate the wireless communication device identification numbers and verify/calculate any check digits.